A CAMERAWOMAN, who became infamous after she was filmed kicking refugees as they run from police, has escaped a prison sentence.

Petra Laszlo was handed three years probation for breach of the peace after the incident was captured on camera in September 2015 when her case was heard at Szeged District Court on Thursday.

Shocking footage showed her tripping up a refugee as he ran through a field carrying his young son, as well as kicking a small girl as hundreds of asylum seekers broke through police lines near the Hungarian border to make their way towards Budapest.

The Hungarian, who has vowed to appeal her conviction, mounted a tearful defence in court, where she appeared via video link.

“It was all over within two seconds,” she claimed. “Everybody was shouting… it was very frightening.”

AP

A camerawoman has avoided prison after kicking refugees

It’s not a crime if somebody acts to defend herself

Petra Laszlo's lawyer, Ferenc Sipos

But Judge Illes Nanami told the camerawoman the her behaviour “ran counter to societal norms” and said the facts of the case did not support her claims that she was acting in self defence.

The court reached its verdict after watching frame-by-frame footage of the incident during the chaotic scenes in Roszke, on the Serbian border, on September 8, 2015.

Ms Laszlo filming nearby for online television channel N1TV when the asylum seekers attempting to pass through Western Europe broke through a police cordon and started running past.

Her lawyer, Ferenc Sipos, said she could not appear in court in person after receiving death threats and would appeal the conviction.

GETTY

She claimed it was in self-defence but the judge ruled against her

She claimed she “terribly regretted” what happened and her life had been “derailed” by the incident

He told the Associated Press: “It’s not a crime if somebody acts to defend herself… she was in danger, and she tried to avert this danger with her actions.”

Shortly after the attack, Ms Laszlo said: “I am practically in shock from what I did, and what was done to me.

“I am not heartless or racist… I am a woman, a mother of small children, who has since lost her job, and who made a bad decision in panic.”

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